Author: Migrant Tales

Helsingin Sanomat: Kaksi kertaa muita rikkaampi

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Comment: Coming from three cultural backgrounds, I personally feel comfortable with an identity like “multicultural Finn” in this country. This is ok as long as I am in Finland but things change if I go to the United States and Argentina, where there is no need to have multicultural before the name of the country. 

Melissa Heikkilä’s column sheds light on the ever-growing number of multicultural Finns that are coming out and who are proud of their background. Some of them grew up in Finland while other ones came here when they were adults. One matter unites all of them: at least one of their parents are immigrants.

If you want to castrate a person spiritually, one sure way of doing it is by forcing the person to deny a part of his or her identity. This is why assimilation cannot and should never be a part of our integration program in Finland.

The good news is that it’s never too late to bring out that other side. In my case it happened when I met a beautiful girl from Colombia at high school. She opened up a dormant world that took me back to one of the places I was once from.

If you accept who you are you will feel new power and strength. That is why those who are critical of multiculturalisn fear us so much.

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Melissa Heikkilä

Asun alueella, joka on tunnettu värikkäästä kansallisuuksien kirjosta. Yhdessä kerrostalorapussa voi asua koko maailma. Vieri vieressä ruskeiden ovien postiluukkujen takana elävät harmoniassa Virtaset, Smithit, Nguyenit, Hosseinit ja Rodriguezit.

Read whole story.

Xenophobia and racism are the poverty of Finland today

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Some claim that ever-growing poverty and social inequality in Finland were the reasons why the Perussuomalaiset scored such a big election victory in April. We read in the media about ever-growing bread lines and how it has become more difficult for some people to make it through the month economically.  Even so, does this justify growing xenophobia and racism in our society?

Some cast their only vote in April in the belief that our most pressing problems would be solved by voting for an anti-immigration candidate of the PS.

Voting for such a candidate, however,  is like calling a pyromaniac to turn off a raging fire. You need qualified firemen to deal with that kind of threat in the same way that Finland needs today leaders and politicians who have political experience and a strong background in economics, globalization and sociology.

Poverty is unacceptable in any society. In some parts of the world it means living off $1 a day, or even less. It means making hard decisions: I will not eat today in order to feed my children.

I remember a documentary I saw in university a long time ago about a poor family in the US Appalachia Mountains. “IN the same way that some rich folks may be proud of being rich,” the young father said standing next to his wife, “I’m also proud of being poor.”

The couple didn’t apparently have enough money to buy milk so they fed their baby gravy from a bottle.

I am certain that when Finnish politicians and policy-makers speak of poverty they don’t mean living off $1 a day or having to feed your baby gravy (läskisoosi).

Poverty means different things in affluent countries like Finland and in the developing world. Poverty teaches some of us two important lessons:  our insignificance in society and that nothing is permanent. If there is some wisdom we can learn, probably it is treating people nicely even during bad times because we never know when we’ll need their help.

The rise of racism and right-wing populism in Finland and Europe are proof that these lessons are not even being acknowledged by some. Moreover, the arrogance of some politicians is like adding salt to the open wound of Finland’s polarized society.

The more we boast our racism and suspicion of minorities in public and in private, the more our society will continue to slip into a more devastating type of poverty. We will not throw extra weight overboard to slow our downward spiral but instead our most inalienable values like social equality for all.

Xenophobia and racism are the real poverty facing Finland today.

guardian.co.uk: While the European left dithers, the right marches menacingly on

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Comment: There are many factors that are fueling the rise of nativist right-wing populist parties in Europe. One of these is the global economic recession after September 2008, which was triggered by the bankruptcy of US banking group Lehman Brothers. Another factor has been the lack of any effective opposition to a message that aims to polarize society further.

The rise of xenophobia in Finland, for example, has been fueled by the Perussuomalaiset and little to no opposition by the media to their xenophobic message, according to a doctoral dissertation by Camila Haavisto.

Wilt Hutton’s column below attempts to answer the main challenges facing Europe on the right-wing populist front. He writes: “The trouble is that the longer the left’s response is confused, the more the populist right has begun to make anti-immigrant attitudes culturally acceptable (in Europe).”

Probably the first question we should ask is why the message of right-wing populist parties, which the PS is a part of, are unacceptable in today’s Europe?

Like much of the ongoing debate, your view depends on where you stand: Are you a target or the one attacking immigrants? Are you white or black? Muslim or Christian?

How do you think Europeans should address the right-wing populist message and challenge?

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Wilt Hutton

Immigration: The longer the left’s response is confused, the more the populist right begins to make xenophobia acceptable.  It is hard not to be very uneasy. Every month, there is another milestone passed in the ever onward march of Europe’s populist, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, nativist right.

Read whole story.

Here is a comprehensive story by HBL (in Swedish) on the rise of right-wing populism in Europe.

Suomen Kuvalehti: Professori Vesa Kanniainen: Jokainen on rasisti

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Comment: Here is another column that will add to Mark’s good contribution on what is racism. 

This column below is by Vesa Kanniainen, a professor of economics at Helsinki University. When reading opinion-pieces on immigration in Finland and elsewhere it is important to find out who the writer is and what may be his motives for writing on the topic.

We at Migrant Tales don’t hide the fact that we aim to be a blog that debates some of the salient issues facing the immigrant and minority community in Finland. It aims to be a voice for those whose views and situation are understood poorly and heard faintly by the media, politicians and public.

In my opinion, Kanniainen’s column is a borderline case justifying racism on the one hand and giving it the thumbs down on the other.  He attempts to defend how we are all racists deep inside and that this hinges on our genes. Why doesn’t he speak how nationalism, instead of genes, fuels racism?

Some believe that the flip side of nationalism is always racism. according to Chris Hedges.

A lot of people who play down racism in Finland do so because they are white and are not immigrants.  The issue affects them in another way as opposed to a person who may have a multicultural background.

If racism is learned it can be unlearned. How much we want to unlearn racism is, I believe, the big question that Kanniainen should address.

He concludes: “As an economist I know that Finland needs immigrants. Finns still have the right to not accept the values that many immigrants represent. This isn’t racism. ”

What does this statement tell us? What does it imply about immigrants? Is it for acceptance of minorities or under certain conditions?

True,  Finns (no pun intended) do not have to accept the values of some immigrant groups in the same way that immigrants are not obliged to accept the values that some Finns have. By values I do not mean being against the UN Declaration of Human Rights but permitting people in our society to make choices about their lifestyles. This is a human right.

Kanniainen’s column is a good example of the undercurrents found in today’s debate over Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity. We state that we want to accept immigrants but the conditions are quite rigorous and narrow. These conditions are generally being made by white Finns.

What makes these conditions suspect, however, is that they’d never be suggested to members of our own group. 

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Vesa Kanniainen

YK:n yleissopimuksen mukaan rasismilla tarkoitetaan rotuun, ihonväriin, syntyperään tai kansalliseen tai etniseen alkuperään perustuvaa erottelua, poissulkemista. Koko elämän mysteeri on kuitenkin rasistinen.

Read whole story.

HS: Perussuomalaisten nousu muuttanut kirjoittelua

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Comment: One wonders how racism has got an ever-growing foothold in Finnish society. Could it be ignorance about what it is and how it can impact society adversely? Or are the racists so dim that they believe that such a social ill is a normal condition?

Camila Haavisto’s PhD dissertation concludes something that sheds light on how racism has grown in Finland and, as a consequence, could shed light on why the Perussuomalaiset has become Finland’s third-largest party.

Haavisto states that the PS’ view of immigrants and refugees has been accepted by the media almost without any criticism.  In the last years, politically incorrect usage of words and expressions of immigrants have become more general.

If Finland betrays its values of social equality for xenophobia and racism, it will continue willingly or unwillingly to fuel populist political forces like the PS.

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STT

(Camila) Haaviston tutkimusaineiston aikana perussuomalaisten nousu ei ollut vielä ehtinyt vaikuttaa tiedotusvälineiden maahanmuuttokirjoitteluun. Haaviston mukaan sävy muuttui vuoden 2008 kunnallisvaalien jälkeen.

Read whole story.

Will the real Timo Soini and the PS please stand up?

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By Enrique Tessieri

Perussuomalaiset chairperson Timo Soini’s decision to sit it out in the opposition should be seen as a hard blow and a failure of the party to cash in on its election gains in April.

How is it possible that a party like the PS, which rose from relative obscurity to become the third-largest party on its strong anti-EU stance has decided to sit it out in the opposition? The answer to that question is as inscrutable as Soini and the PS.

Never in the history of Finland has a party that won so many seats in an election ended up in the opposition.

Sensible Finns understand that our economic and social well-being hinges on the EU. If the EU and euro fail so does Finland. Europe’s problems are Finland’s.

Giving Finnish voters a picture that this country can survive on its own as an isolated island from the rest of the world and live off nationalist rhetoric is reckless. Some call it populism.

As we have mentioned on this blog on a number of occasions, there is nothing wrong speaking out for people who are socially excluded. But to add to that message xenophobia and suspicion of the outside world, immigrants and refugees destroys all credibility of such a noble message.

The Mr.-Hyde-and-Dr.-Jeckyll style of politicking by the PS shows that it isn’t a serious party. It turns into and acts like a Mr. Hyde with minorities and is a Dr. Jekyll with Finnish voters.

In the 1960s and 1970s there was a popular US TV show called “To tell the truth.” Three persons appeared on the show with the same name. A panel had to figure out who was the correct person.

Soini’s odd political bedfellows beg for the same answer as in the popular TV show: Will the real Timo Soini and PS please stand up?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSoxQNJjkFs]

The PS’ dangerous advice to the Finnish media

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By Enrique Tessieri

It was pretty surprising to read about Perussuomalaiset MPs like Jussi Halla-aho and James Hirvisaari offering the Finnish media lessons on how they should do their job. Whenever governments and politicians start to blame the media for their shortcomings we know there is something wrong. 

Just like the separation of the church and state, there must be a clear line between the media and politicians. Telling journalists how they should do their job or what the editorial policy of a newspaper should be is simply unacceptable in a Western democratic society.

Certainly we could take examples of countries like Myanmar, North Korea or Russia to see how governments and politicians manipulate the media for their own aims.

Apart from criticizing the media on numerous occasions and preferring not to answer tough questions by journalists, Halla-aho has now decided to boycott Tampere-based daily Aamulehti. The reason? He does not like the pictures that the newspaper prints of him.

Halla-aho did not like this picture published of him by Aamulehti. He said he would no longer give interviews to the newspaper. (Picture by Kimmo Brandt)

In another odd statement, Hirvisaari said that the media was treating the PS with disrespect.

Both Halla-aho and Hirvisaari reached public notoriety with the help of their xenophobic blogs. They are what some have called the “far-right extremists” of Timo Soini’s party.

Both are members of Suomen Sisu, a “Nazi-spirited” association, according to the Finnish Criminal Police (KRP) and Supo.

Can representatives of a “Nazi-spirited” association seriously offer advice to Finland’s media?

Can two people who base their writings on spreading stereotypes and hatred of immigrants and refugees in Finland tell the media what is ethical and correct? Seeking advice from Halla-aho and Hirvisaari would be like an ex-smoker with terminal lung cancer asking tobacco companies for advice.

Halla-aho was asked recently on a television program if he renounced the work of Alfred Rosenberg and David Duke, a former Klu Klux Klan head. It is understandable why associations like Suomen Sisu don’t have any issues with Rosenberg, who was tried in Nuremberg and sent to the gallows in 1946.

In Rosenberg’s The myth of the twentieth century, his argument is the antithesis of cultural diversity, or multiculturalism, which Suomen Sisu and Duke are vehemently opposed. Rosenberg believed that in order for the Germans to become the “master race” it needed to expel the Jews from the country. Only then would Germany reach greatness.

Tens of millions of people perished in World War 2 after Nazism and its representatives like Rosenberg were defeated and placed on trial to answer for their crimes.

It is ludicrous that people like Halla-aho and Hirvisaari want to teach our free media how to do its job. By keeping these two politicians, as well as others under scrutiny, we know that the media is doing its job.

BBC: True Finns leader Timo Soini explains his party ethos

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Comment: Here is an interesting short BBC video on the “obscure euroskeptic” True Finns party. The reporter tries to find out who are the “True Finns.”

The 7:23-minute video gets more critical at the end.

________________

In April Finnish nationalist party True Finns, which is anti-immigration and staunchly Euro-sceptic, saw a dramatic surge in support in the country’s general election. The party quadrupled its share of the vote to win 39 seats in the 200-member parliament.

Newsnight’s David Grossman went to meet the group’s leader Timo Soini to find out more about them and what they represent.

Click to watch video.

Broadcast on Tuesday 10 May 2011.

Prosecutor General expected to announce Hakkarainen ruling “within days”

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The Prosecutor General is expected to announce “within days” its ruling over whether PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen should be charged for his racist remarks last month, according to the spokesman of the Ombudsman for Minority Affairs.

According to STT, Hakkarainen was quoted as saying in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat that “the country’s borders were awash with “n-words” and went on to mock an Islamic call to prayer.”

The police said  Tuesday in a preliminary investigation that bringing charges was unecessary.

This was reinforced a few hours later by the Prosecutor General who said that no charges would be brought against Hakkarainen, accordging to Helsingin Sanomat.

Finnish Americans tell us what immigration is

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Here is an interesting 18:18-minute video on some interviews of second- to fourth-generation Finnish Americans who give their insight on immigration.

Two comments I liked were by Dan Karvonen, a fourth-generation Finnish American, and  second-generation American Eric Salonen.

Karvonen said that when people in the United States criticize immigrants for bringing their relatives and friends they forget that that was exactly what Finns did 150 years ago. “Many siblings and friends came from the same place (in Finland),” he said.

Karvonen believes that eventually the stigma of being an immigrant will go away because their children will be part of society.

Salonen asked the following question, which is topical in Finland and elsewhere in Europe:  “Too many… politicians who are obviously using the (immigrant) issue simply to gain political advantage and that don’t really have any realistic proposals in mind. And so where are we going to find people who are actually seriously address the issue?”

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/22125388]

I would like to thank Gerry Luoma Henkel  for sending me the video clip. He is editor of New World Finn.